Middle East airlines keep dominating the sky

(culled from www.khaleejtimes.com)

Only the Middle East region witnessed the double-digit growth in annual traffic last year.



Middle Eastern airlines ruled the sky in 2015 by recording the strongest annual traffic growth and also increased the share of international traffic on massive expansion of Gulf carriers.

Only the Middle East region witnessed the double-digit growth in annual traffic last year. Latin America region ranked second with 9.3 per cent growth, Asia 8.2 per cent, Europe five per cent North America 3.2 per cent and African airlines three per cent.

"Middle East carriers had the strongest annual traffic growth at 10.5 per cent. As a result, the share of international traffic carried by Middle East airlines reached 14.2 per cent, surpassing their North American counterparts (13.4 per cent)," the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced on Thursday. Middle Eastern carriers' capacity growth of 13.2 per cent exceeded the demand gains, pushing down load factor 1.7 percentage points to 76.4 per cent, according to the aviation apex body.

Last year, airline traffic surged 6.5 per cent, the most since the post-slump rebound of 2010, as cuts in fares prompted by the lower oil price encouraged people to travel even amid a generally weaker economic situation, the body explained. After adjusting for distortions caused by the rise of the US dollar, global airfares last year were approximately five per cent lower than in 2014.

"Last year's very strong performance, against a weaker economic backdrop, confirms the strong demand for aviation connectivity. But even as the appetite for air travel increased, consumers benefitted from lower fares compared to 2014," Tony Tyler, IATA's director-general and CEO in a statement.

Annual capacity also rose 5.6 per cent last year, with the result that load factor climbed 0.6 percentage points to a record annual high of 80.3 per cent. All regions experienced positive traffic growth in 2015. Carriers in the Asia-Pacific region accounted for one-third of the total annual increase in traffic.

International passenger capacity rose 5.9 per cent and load factor rose 0.5 percentage points to 79.7 per cent. All regions recorded year-over-year increases in demand.

Aviation delivered strong results for the global economy in 2015, enabling connectivity and helping to drive economic development. The value of aviation is well understood by friends and families whom aviation brings together, by business travelers meeting clients in distant cities, and particularly by those for whom aviation is a lifeline in times of crisis.

It is very disappointing to see that some governments still wrongly believe that the value of taxes and charges that can be extracted from air transport outweighs the benefits - economic and social - of connectivity. The most recent example is the dramatic increase in the Italian Council Tax levied on air passengers. This 33-38 per cent hike will damage Italian economic competitiveness, reduce passenger numbers by over 755,000 and GDP by ?146 million per year. An estimated 2,300 jobs a year will be lost. At a time when the global economy is showing signs of weakening, governments should be looking for ways to stimulate spending, not discourage it.